The invention relates to an arrangement for changing cartridged ammunition from the hull magazine to the turret magazine of an armored vehicle which is equipped with a gun barrel.
Such a conveying device is known from German Offenlegungsschrift 2,818,279; however, it has the drawback that it requires a considerable amount of space within the turret.
In view of this, it is the object of the invention to provide an arrangement for changing cartridged ammunition from the hull magazine to the turret magazine of an armored vehicle, which arrangement considerably reduces the space required within the turret for a change of ammunition.
This is accomplished by employing the gun barrel, which is pivotal about a cradle axis, as the transporting means for changing or transferring the cartridged ammunition from the hull magazine to the turret magazine.
In an advantageous manner, the invention permits the use of the gun barrel as a space saving transporting means for moving the cartridged ammunition from the hull magazine to the turret magazine of an armored vehicle. In a particularly advantageous manner no additional drives and power connections are required for the ammunition changing arrangement other than the already-existing elevation height setting drive of the gun barrel.
Since the transporting chamber for the cartridged ammunition during a change of ammunition is the loading chamber of the gun barrel, and since the gun can be loaded directly and automatically from the hull magazine as it is possible with turret magazines, the weapon is ready for fire even during a change of ammunition. The direct loading from the hull magazine, which additionally saves space, is made possible because when the cartridge ammunition is in the removal position in the hull magazine, it is disposed in an oblique position within the vehicle hull, or else the entire hull magazine is disposed obliquely. In its oblique orientation for removal from the hull magazine, the cartridged ammunition forms a straight line with the bore axis of the gun barrel, which has been raised by an elevation angle .alpha. with respect to the horizontal so that the cartridged ammunition can be transported directly into the chamber of the gun barrel. Transfer of the cartridged ammunition into the chamber is facilitated by a conduit or spacer which bridges the gun recoil path and by a ramming device fixed to the hull magazine.
For barrel recoil, the spacers disposed at the turret magazine as well as at the hull magazine can be pivoted out of the bridging position. The upper side of the tubular spacer disposed at the hull magazine has a concave or bowl-shaped configuration and, in its lowered position, is adapted to the recoil chamber of the gun barrel, thus shortening the distance between the hull magazine and the gun barrel and, in a further advantageous manner, reducing the space required in the turret.